Thursday, 30 December 2010

Well, what a year it was! After a whirl of gigging and crafting and working on the allotment, it's hard to believe that 2010 is over already.

The year will always be remembered as the first for our little garden, I never realised how much of our time it would take up; from March to September we were there practically every day. And the related activities too; reading allotment guides, preparing seedlings, researching pest control, and of course cooking and eating our delicious yield!

I hope you've all enjoyed reading about it.

The year was also filled with craft activities. After learning to crochet last winter, I've kept myself busy with various projects, a toy fox for Jonathan, a puppy for Nina and my favourite; a tiny Slytherin Head Girl for Chloe (See below). I'm currently creating a blanket of granny squares, to give a rustic look to my bedroom.

And as usual, there's been an awful lot of good music. Top 5 to follow.

Seeing as I like doing lists, here are a few of my favourite things this year...

Fave second Hand find: Beautiful Aran Jumper in Beyond Retro

Fave second hand bargain: £1 crochet jumper at Brighton Craft Fair

Fave second Hand Book: 1st Edition of Mrs Harris goes to New York

Fave eco friendly discovery: Composting Loos

Fave politician: Caroline Lucas, whose election to MP for Brighton Pav was the only good thing to come out of this year's poll

Fave Gig: A drunken Caitlin Rose at the Latest Music Bar.

Fave surprise: Marie visiting the UK in June.

Fave Game: Yellow Car

Fave cookery Book: Primrose Bakery

Fave food/drink: Hemp Hot Chocolate from the Jolly Green Cafe.

Fave recipe for allotment gluts: Creamy Courgette Lasagne

Fave shop: Urban Outfitters, which finally opened in Brighton (thank goodness now that I can't shop in Topshop anymore)

Wednesday, 29 December 2010

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy, then poorly. And now I'm busy and poorly which is not a good combination.

I realise I haven't even posted many Christmassy things, so here's a pic of a house opposite the Park, the window is filled with hundreds of toys and it makes you feel all festive and cosy when you stop to have a look on a winter's night...

Sunday, 5 December 2010

As much as I try to avoid facebook, I do find myself checking it almost every day. This weekend, I’ve been watching as more and more people switch their profile picture to their favourite cartoon character and eventually was faced with almost a whole page of childhood memories. It was interesting to see what everyone had selected; a character with the same name, a similar haircut or a childhood pet giving an insight into how we picked our favourites.

The idea behind this was part of a campaign by the NSPCC to stop violence against children. It’s nice to see so many people supporting the campaign but I do question in what way this helped the NSPCC. Raising awareness is the first step, but people need to take action to really benefit these charities, by donating either time or money.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article for the New Yorker about Facebook and social activism a month or so ago which made for interesting reading and caused a ripple in the media. He reinforces a benefit of social networking in that it’s our acquantainces, not our friends, who are our greatest source of new ideas and information.

But he also makes the following point:

“The Facebook page of the Save Darfur Coalition has 1,282,339 members, who have donated an average of nine cents apiece. The next biggest Darfur charity on Facebook has 22,073 members, who have donated an average of thirty-five cents. Help Save Darfur has 2,797 members, who have given, on average, fifteen cents. “

He emphasizes that social networking encourages people to sign up to causes by not asking too much of them (or in a sense, asking nothing of them), or in his words:

“Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice.”

The NSPCC are currently not recruiting volunteers but it’s worth keeping an eye out over the next few months to see what roles become available and in the meantime, we can each send them a fiver. It took me about as much time as it took to google “Mysterious Cities of Gold” and change my profile pic.